The press room at stage three resembles most of the stage finishes at the Tour. It’s huge, probably 150 meters long, and has chairs and tables enough for 300 or more editors. Once the stage starts most editor’s race to the finish to watch on live tv and report what they see, the press room is always at the finish. Most press rooms are remote from the finish by a few hundred yards. I am familiar with most of the English speaking press and I have pictured a few of my editor friends attached, names you read in by-lines all the time. These guys are really the heart and sole of the sport in so many ways and travel endlessly to bring racing to the websites and publications we subscribe too.

Editors get treated well. Lots of swag, coffee and food, but it is costly to get web access, approximately 30 Euros a day, almost a 1,000 Euros for the entire Tour. There is every language spoken here and there are at least 300 editors, not counting tv. These guys have traveled together for years, it is much like a fraternity.

In the press room there are ‘runners’ who are constantly handing things out to everyone. These are stage updates, facts, team info, rider info. It is an incredible amount of information and a lot of these facts make it into the stories you read.

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